Pepper X is the world’s hottest chilli

The world’s hottest chilli is twice as spicy as the Carolina Reaper. We reveal why this discovery is burning up the food world - and how you can get a taste.

Get ready to sweat, cry and experience terrible cramps.

Is it getting hot in here?

The world’s hottest chilli has been revealed and it’s bound to put some pep in your step. Pepper X (formerly known as Pepper Twitter) is the diabolical creation of Carolina-based Ed Currie, who said the chilli left him with horrible cramps and he was still reeling three hours after consuming it.

Pepper X outweighs the former world’s hottest Carolina Reaper by more than one million Scoville units. The Carolina Reaper – also a creation of madman Currie – weighs in at 1.64m Scoville units. Pepper X lands at a whopping 2.69 million.

Pepper X (formerly known as Pepper Twitter) is the diabolical creation of Carolina-based Ed Currie, who said the chilli left him with horrible cramps and he was still reeling three hours after consuming it.

Related story: Turn up the heat with these 48 chilli recipes

The spiciness of a chilli is measured on what is known as the Scoville scale, which was established by the pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. The scale measures the concentration of capsaicin, the primary component of a chilli that makes it spicy.

Capsaicin “causes a burning sensation when it makes contact with human tissue”, according to Guinness World Records, who announced the new reigning chilli this week.

In contrast, an average jalapeño sits around a wimpy 5,000 Scoville units.

You can taste the Pepper X in the form of a hot sauce.

If you’ve got designs on trying Pepper X, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it. Currie is fiercely protective of his magnum opus, and will not be releasing the pods or seeds to the world, or the secret formula. Currie only revealed on Sean Evan’s Youtube series Hot Ones that it is a hybrid of a Carolina Reaper and a chilli a friend sent him that was “brutally hot.”

Consumers will be able to test Pepper X exclusively in the form of commercially sold hot sauce.

Related story: 40 chilli recipes that’ll spice things up

For more food, travel and lifestyle news, go to delicious.com.au

Originally published as Pepper X is the world’s hottest chilli